Abstract
The Kanagawa Dental College Pediatric Dentistry Department founded on investigation of the recall system. The 2418 patients, under the age of 9, were included in the investigation. The patients first visited the hospital between January 1970 and December 1974. The patients follow up period was 14 years.
The results were as follows.
1) The average age of the first-visit patients was 4 years and 4 months, and the largest number was for 3-year-old patients. About 85.2% of all the patients was included between the ages of 2 and 5.2) The average period of the recall continuation was 3 years and 4 months. Among them 241 (10%)patients did not appear for the recall.
3) The average continuation period of the 0-year-old patients was the longest (5 years and 6 months)and that of 8 and 9-year-old patients was the shortest (2 years and 4 months).
4) The rate of rejection within 1 year of the patients who first came to the hospital at the ages from 6years up was relatively higher. The rejection rate of the patients of the ages between 0 and 5 at their first visit was not marked before and after 6 years old.
5) The rate of patients domiciled in the vicinity of the hospital (necessary time for attendance less than 1 hour) was 74.7% and that of the distant patients was 25.3%. The number of the distant patients showed a tendency to be lower within 1 year.
6) The period of the recall continuation of the dwelling nearly patients was higher if they were younger, while that of the dwelling for away patients was higher if they were older.
